It's velvety here on the fringes
way out in the darkness
absorbing light, tugging photons
down with this immense
gravity.

Space dust, starlight, no matter can singe
nor emotions depress,
darker than night, a siren song
making all past tense
certainly,

but I am not full and cannot find
a cure for emptiness.
Heed me no mind. Your galaxy
will crackle and smolder
long enough.

A way to celebrate such extended camaraderie,
a formidable force against separation.
Change of stations brings no hesitation,
transportation advances have us prancing,
dancing across state lines, borders oceans.
The excellent chance circumstance lent us
and here we are
ready to take it
while the world drives itself
to the bitter end.

Night glides over the white wings,
settling down from the sky.
Arrival in a familiar place awash with memory.
Come and gone,
return pulls tendrils from squishy matter,
lays them out before me
lights in the pitch, great expanse whispering,
tugging my sleeve.
There is a hill,
and a home,
a tricycle and bad accident,
fluffy morning pancakes,
play dough,
summer sun stretching for years.

Crows gather overhead,
called a ******, right?
Sure don't like a ******
right above me,
splattered in the tree
I'm sitting under.
They could peck me to bits,
or worse,
they could ****.

Four pillars topped by bronze statues,
the stages of transformation
from tadpole to frog.
I've felt like the frog for so long,
at the peak form I can be,
suddenly an idea from my soul!
I haven't yet grown legs, I'm still a tadpole.

a connector, a communicator,
abstract, not quite the real thing, just close,
just a sound to represent.
Do words fall short?
Almost always,
so why continue to speak?
Why seek connection through futile means?
Touch, a look, are much more accurate.

Time to shut eyes, reach out,
and communicate.

Vast time outside,
hours and hours running, biking, exploring,
no need for meaning to haunt me.
Where did it even come from?
It's unwanted!
Never was something I cared for,
experiencing is enough.
Then monetary things popped up,
some numerical demands
handed to me to settle those handed to them,
and maybe a little on the side
for a vacation of course.
I guess that means I'm back to work.

"I haven't bled."
She paused.

Now, two tests rest,
neatly packaged in friendly pink,
waiting to give their best guess -
baby or no baby?

Maybe it won't go too far,
turn into a "whew"
or a story to shake our heads to.

But if those little plastic
holders of destiny,
come up with two black lines, not one,
my blood will rush,
pulse against my skin's surface.
A little part of us destined for end,
for end,
for end.

The heat torches the house
making it practice for hell,
though hell might be frigid.
Nothing helps douse the flames.
Fans only slap with hot air,
sticking your head in the fridge
can't last forever.

Even the night doesn't bring cool,
just taunts with searing darkness,
the illusion of sanctuary.

It's an odd spot, like limbo
where slow mo tempo drawls
as I crawl to the next stop,
the next lot,
the next way to stay funded.
Redundant tasks strap to my back,
but I can't complain.
The opposite of this society
is a deranged range bound for the drain.
Each piece here benefits from the other bits.
Separate would be desperate
so I must do this,
but can my assets affect the universe?

Energy displays its fickle ebb,
bubbling through tree branches,
whipping up the alley.
This cosmic dance trots on,
eternal music raining from stars,
and it's as if I need just one touch,
one grasp,
to be pulled along, allowed to ride
the current to better horizons.

Time changes leave me lost,
a time traveller unsure of his whereabouts,
the hand of his watch deceiving.
Leaving yet another temporal plane,
desperate to return to the ground
tread by my lover's feet,
to rest my head on her shoulder.
I fly back in time,
rewind just a little,
our connection will reel me in,
grab my ethereal string
and pull me into her bed.

Wrestling thoughts left this brain exhausted,
but aloe words prevented burns.
For now, checking off to-to lists
comprising domestic upkeep
and work duty
is enough that the end of the day
feels accomplished,
miniature success.
The reward?
bed

Suddenly life seems long,
stretched out.
Scenes I'd forgotten
display on an internal screen.
Could these memories be mine?
Do they belong to another me?
They're intangible.
How can it be that I was that person
and ended up me?

People I haven't thought about in a millennia,
now dance across my vision
telling me their secrets, heartache and happiness.
Could I be so cruel
to dismiss their life in my actions, my passions,
to dismiss that they've produced the man
I see in the mirror

Ducks lay with tucked noses
relishing rays, taking wing
on Spring's first winds.
The water a flurry,
flapping, diving, thriving,
my mind takes a deep breath.
Toes grip the ground,
sprout roots, push through the dirt
moist with water replenishing my energy.
In this moment
this lake, this shore,
the entire forest,
you and I,
meld.

My father called crying,
witnessed a man crossing highway I-80
get smashed by an SUV.
I have no answer.
Dad was the first responder,

"Eyes up to the sky, nothing, nope, gone.
Dan I, there was all this blood
and his eyes were wide open..."

The SUV driver went home someone else,
two deaths that day,

"He had to be drunk, or or high out of his mind, or, because
why would he do that? Nobody just just walks out like that, he
must have been drunk, who does that?

I can't bring myself to say it,
couldn't suggest it,
how to do that smoothly?
Set it up with a deep breath then-

Roused from sleep by the sound of sobbing,
I reached out for my sweet,
wondering over the wetness in her eyes.
Her cries filled the dark room
as she shook.
"His face, his face," she mutters into her hands.
That crook, that fiend,
that stain on society.
He is unconcerned, free, happy,
while she has terrors, anxiety.
I want to tell her that one day
he will get what's comin' to him,
that, inside, he knows he is ****,
that he will suffer in some way.
maybe today, maybe tomorrow,
maybe next year,

But then, my heart crumples in fear,
because there is no guarantee.
Instead I mumble.
"If we see him,
I will punch him in the face."
Violence with violence,
is there any other way?